by Ian Donnis and Scott MacKay

Angus Davis’ Swipely builds on its software success in RI

While the meltdown of 38 Studios is certainly Rhode Island’s top story for 2013, Swipely — the company started by Angus Davis — is showing how a smart entrepreneurial company can thrive in the Ocean State.

In the six months since Swipely moved to this [new] model of combining payments, analytics and marketing, it has processed $250 million in payment volume. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to big competitors. But the solid growth shows that Swipely may be on to a business model that works. And now the company is expanding its offering for its merchants to help them get even more insights and forge a better relationship with their customers.

Swipely is the first and only Rhode Island-based software company to ever raise a $7.5 million series A [venture capital funding]. And that series A was stacked with no slouches: It includes Reid Hoffman of Greylock, Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital, and Danny Rimer of Index Ventures.

That both points to something wonderful and daunting for the payments company. The wonderful is that, by God, Swipely must be doing something right to beat those odds. The daunting part is, well, there’s a reason that Rhode Island isn’t exactly a software paradise.